Joanne Nejem
Joanne Amirah Nejem-Everett was the mother of Rahmat, Suraya and Zakir Everett. She grew up in Quebec, Canada, just like her mother. Her father, Jameel, was an Arabian immigrant. He came to North America to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a writer. Jo always found his passion inspiring, and discovered the art of creating fictional worlds to be her very first love at an early age. At age 18, Joanne moved to New York City for the renowned creative writing program of the local university. Two years later, she published her first science fiction novel. She used the pseudonym Jo Simmons. "Simmons" was a reference to her mother's maiden name, Simard. In her final year as a student, Jo met Samir Everett. The young man was two years older than her, and in the midst of being prepared to take over his father's company. Despite knowing that they were practically polar opposites and headed down two entirely different paths, they fell in love. Jo didn't mean to marry young. She loved Samir with all her heart, but she wanted to wait and see if their relationship would survive the rocky road ahead. However, she didn't get as much time as she would've liked. In early 2012, she found out that she was pregnant, which put her in a difficult situation. She'd always wanted children, but she hadn't been planning to become a mother until years later. 25 wasn't terribly young, but she was unprepared and not entirely confident in their relationship. Samir's father didn't leave them much of a choice, though. He pressured them to get married before Jo started showing, and didn't wait for an answer before he started arranging the wedding. Samir's mother, Mirabai, tried to calm him down and defuse the mess they all got caught up in, but her husband wouldn't budge until Joanne and Samir caved. On March 2nd 2012, Jo and Samir got married. On August 23rd, their first son Rahmat was born. Jo decided to accept the cards she was dealt, especially for her child's sake. She spent a lot of time at home to take care of Matty, which put her career on ice for almost three years. Meanwhile, Samir thrived in his job, and he saw them less and less often. Things only got worse when Joanne's father, Jameel, died less than a month after his grandson's first birthday. He'd only been 47, and no one had quite seen it coming. Jo only got time to grief because her mother-in-law stepped in to help her with the baby, proving to be the best support Joanne could get. With Mirabai's help, Joanne struggled through the next six years. She birthed two more unplanned but loved children. Her only daughter, Suraya Rose, was born on March 21st 2015. Her second son and youngest child, Zakir, was introduced to the world on October 11th 2016. Jo wrestled with her mental scars and straining daily routine as long as she could, but it seems she surrendered in the end. On April 20th 2019, two days after her own 32nd birthday, she died of an overdose. The case was investigated and filed as a suicide by the NYPD. At the time, her children were 6, 4 and 2 years old respectively. Category:All Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Original Characters Category:Deceased Characters Category:Everett Family Category:Born: 1980s Category:Sirens Category:Characters: Beyond Human Category:Born: April